gaire

Borrowed from Frankish *waigaro, related to *waigr (“resistant”). Compare Occitan gaire, Aragonese guaire, Piedmontese vaire, French guère.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈɡaj.ɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈɡaj.ɾe]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

gaire m or f (masculine and feminine plural gaires or gaire)

1. (in negative constructions) not much, hardly any

   No té gaire diners. ― He hardly has any money.

2. (in interrogative constructions) any

   Que té gaire diners? ― Has he got any money?

3. (in negative constructions) not many, hardly any

   No té gaires alumnes. ― He hardly has any students.

4. (in interrogative constructions) any

   Que té gaires alumnes? ― Has he got any students?

gaire

1. (in negative constructions) not much, hardly any

   No en queda gaire. ― There is hardly any left.

   No va dir gaire res. ― She hardly said anything.

2. (in interrogative constructions) any much

   Que en queda gaire? ― Is there any much left?

• gairebé

• “gaire”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “gaire”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “gaire” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “gaire” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaɾʲə/

From Middle Irish gaire. By surface analysis, gar +‎ -e.

gaire f (genitive singular gaire, nominative plural)

1. nearness, proximity

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

gaire

1. inflection of gar:
   1. genitive feminine singular
   2. comparative degree

From Old Occitan gaire.

• Audio:

  (file)

gaire

1. barely, hardly

• gaires, guaire, guaires, guere, gueres, waires

Of Germanic origin, borrowed from Frankish *waigaro, related to *waigr (“resistant”) (source of modern German unweigerlich (“unevitable”), Middle High German unweiger (“not very”)).^[1]

gaire

1. (chiefly with "ne") hardly; almost not at all

• Middle French: guiere, guere
  • French: guère

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (guaire, supplement)
• gueres on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Of Germanic origin, borrowed from Frankish *waigaro, related to *waigr (“resistant”) (source of modern German unweigerlich (“unevitable”), Middle High German unweiger (“not very”)). Gallo-Romance cognate with Old French gaire.

gaire

1. (chiefly with "ne") hardly; almost not at all

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “*waigaro”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 17: Germanismes: S–Z, page 469
• “guère”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.